The Chef and the Schoolgirl
by Munchman
Summary: Sakura is saved by a masked stranger. They were to become friends in an instant, but will it blossom into something more? What will be the reaction from their friends and allies? SakuraxElFuerte
1. A Close Encounter

It was a rainy day in the city. Sakura was caught up in the masses of crowds who were swarming through the streets, making commuting slow, and her revealing get up made it all the more difficult to bare. Still, with determination in her heart and a will to carry on, she kept on bulldozing her way through and through to her destination, which was a road on the city limits where an old friend was going to be there to pick her up. Slowly, Sakura's stamina wore out. The crowds kept on coming and they were in no hurry to disperse either. Sakura gradually got weary of the streets; the rain did not help either, causing her to get cold.

"At this rate, I'm going to get hypothermia… I'll die if this goes on…" she grunted, trying to shield herself from the rain, and at the same time cover herself. A short cut uniform and skirt wasn't the best of cover anyway. She came across a back alley, laid with garbage cans and litter, but it was underneath a poorly made roof made of scrap metal. She didn't care, any cover was good cover and she sprinted towards it. Her mind, once under the shelter, concentrated on what was ahead. Was it safe to go forward? She was in a hurry, which meant she did not think ahead so she strode onwards through the back alley, away from the noise.

The back alley was going in the same direction as where she wanted to go, so she didn't think twice about heading back and following her usual route home. She carried on, but came to a screeching halt.

"Well, what do we have here…" a man with a raspy voice called out, walking in front of Sakura. Sakura immediately turned backwards, but almost ran head first into two burly men who blocked her only exit out. She was trapped in between some of the scruffiest looking men in the whole city, but they weren't exactly the weakest either. Sakura, switching to her fighting instincts, blasted the raspy voiced man away with a Hadouken and leapt over him like a gazelle. She was only to be tackled by a man who came literally out of nowhere, but was obviously scruffy enough to be a part of the gang that had confronted her before. The two burly men who had blocked Sakura's path before caught up where she was tackled and propped her up. The raspy voiced man had been knocked out, so he did not follow. The man who tackled her stared at her and brandished a shining steel knife.

"I'm gonna enjoy this…" the man with the knife laughed. He gripped it tightly, ready to drive it into Sakura who winced in fear, too shocked to comprehend what was going on and too dazed from the tackle. The knife hand raised… but did not come down. It was being held back by something. Actually, it was someone else.

"Hands off, you dastardly crooks!" cried a voice, heavy with an accent. The mystery man pulled the arm of the knife wielding man and threw it over his shoulder. The two other thugs dropped Sakura, who fell to her knees, and attacked the mystery man. The man stood there as the two charged at him, then he extended his arms like a cross and took down the two men with his arms like they were caught on a clothesline. The mystery man ran towards Sakura and picked her up, holding her in a fireman's carry and ran away from the men. The man ran out of the back alley and into a park with Sakura on his shoulder, back in public. The rain had cleared up, but it was still overcast. The man sat Sakura down on a bench and caught his breath. Sakura was in awe of him; he was so muscular and donned a mask like a Superhero. He was also wearing wrestling tights and chunky boots.

"W-whoa…" Sakura tried to muster up the power to speak. Still in a state of shock, as the event had blown over so quickly.

Her hero finally stood straight, and as if he had just suddenly regained his energy he cried out "Next time, compadre, if you think going into an alley full of angry men is a good idea, you'll know what'll hit you!"

"Um… thanks?" Sakura said, she couldn't help but laugh. Behind the confusion still lay a happy-go-lucky schoolgirl. "Please, I must know your name".

"Certainly, Senorita! I am known by many names, but you may know me as the Hurricane of the Gulf of Mexico, El Fuerte!" the man stood proudly, posing. Sakura stared, and then suddenly burst out laughing. "…what is so funny? You're a strange little lady…"

"Well, let's just say I wasn't expecting that…" Sakura tried to say through laughing, "I mean, I was expecting something like 'Carl' or 'Burt' but… who am I kidding, that was the best thing ever!" Sakura said, standing up and clapping. El Fuerte scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, but went with it, mock bowing to her.

"I could have had them y'know, I was just outnumbered…" Sakura said, trying to gain some of her pride back.

"I do not underestimate anyone, my dear, just what is inside their stomachs." El Fuerte said wisely.

"Inside their stomachs? Don't you mean 'inside their heart'?"

"No, I meant stomach, I am a Master Chef, didn't you know?" El Fuerte said, grabbing a piece of white fabric from his pants. He shook it once and it poofed out like an airbag. He put it on his head and it was a white chef's hat. Sakura looked up, and burst out in hysterics again.

"You can't write this! This is too damn funny!" Sakura continued laughing.

"There is strange, then there is just plain rudeness" El Fuerte said, un-donning his chefs hat and compacting it.

"Oh no! No no no sir, please, don't think of me as rude… it was just… unexpected?" Sakura said, trying to make it up to him.

"…alright, but next time you're rude I'll squirt so much Habanero juice in your eye you'll blink out fire!" El Fuerte said rather menacingly. Sakura stared rather afraid, but his look turned into a warm grin. "Just kidding! You seem like a nice girl, I wouldn't do that… even to my enemies… have you HAD chilli in your eye? It stings like lava!" El Fuerte made wild hand gestures as he told his story. Sakura giggled and stook out her hand for a handshake.

"My name is Sakura. Pleased to meet you!" she chirped happily. She didn't expect El Fuerte to get down on one knee and kiss her hand instead of shake it.

"The pleasure is all mine" El Fuerte said, getting up. "Now, where were you going anyway?"

"Just a place where my friend is going to pick me up… actually, it's right over there!" Sakura pointed excitedly at her destination, in the distance behind some trees. "Yes, he's not here yet! I made it in time!"

"Just our luck, eh?" El Fuerte said. "Want me to wait with you or am I intruding?"

"Hehe… I could use the company…" Sakura giggled to herself. They both walked to where the meeting place was and looked up the road.

"Um… is that weird rusty looking thing your friend?" El Fuerte said, pointing to a very slow moving hatchback car. It was white but incredibly rusty, its engine making dangerous sounding revving noises.

"Yeah… that's him." Sakura sighed. The car pulled up next to Sakura, but the man inside shot out of the car and headed straight to El Fuerte, rather angrily.

"Hey, who do you think you are? Are you here to take advantage of Sakura? How dare you! I challenge you to a fight! What, you chicken? Hey, I'm speaking to you!" the man said, almost on the verge of what seamed like tears, he didn't even take time to pause in between his questions, his questions firing out like darts. The man was hysterical. He was dressed in pink training garb and had a long brown ponytail.

"Whoa! Calm down, amigo, don't get your pink all red!" El Fuerte retaliated. "I actually helped Sakura I'll have you know, and…"

"Oh my god I can't believe this, you raped her didn't you? Are you hurt Sakura? Did the mean man hurt my prize student? How did you know her name anyway? Who do you think you are? I'm a Saikyo Master! I'll hurt you with my sheer awesome!" the man in pink continued rambling.

"Hibiki-san, please!" Sakura tried to calm her friend down, "He helped me today, he's my friend…"

"He's not your friend, he wears a mask! People who wear masks are evil! What are you hiding under there, masked fiend? A map to the lost world? Your liiiiiiiies!" the man in pink carried on.

"El Fuerte, please, do something!" Sakura cried out, "I've never seen him this worked up!"

The man in pink continued rambling non stop until El Fuerte turned him around and grasped him from behind. El Fuerte's right arm went over the mans head and gripped him tightly, bending him backwards.

"El Fuerte! What are you…" Sakura said, but she noticed the effects it took on her friend.

"Get him off! Get him off! Please! I was only joking! Aah! Help me! I'll sue you! I'll kick your head off… I'll… I'll…" the man in pinks efforts to get out of the hold weakened and weakened. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep, passing out.

"Dragon sleeper. Knocks opponents out for a while… can you drive him home, Sakura?"

"Yeah, Hibiki-san taught me how to drive this thing so I'm sure I can manage…" Sakura said, opening the back seat door and picking up the mans body so she could throw it in.

"Safe travels, Sakura!" El Fuerte waved to her.

"Do you want a ride home, sir?" Sakura asked.

"You are very kind, but I can manage on my own." El Fuerte said happily.

"Oh…" Sakura said, sounding kind of defeated. She hoped that El Fuerte would stay with her longer.

"Sayonara, little chilli pepper!" El Fuerte said. Sakura turned to get in her friends drivers seat, and then turned back. El Fuerte was nothing but a little spot, dashing off into nothingness when she did. She sighed, kind of sad, and drove off.

"Nng… stupid masked man… nnng… get off my property… nnng… no father, I don't wanna eat chicken noodle soup…" the man in pink grunted in the back seat.


	2. At The Restaurant

The next day, after the ordeal that Sakura underwent in the back alley which also included meeting her masked hero, she visited the place of work (and place of residence) of the man in Pink from before, hereby known as Dan Hibiki, master of the Saikyo arts, and also the teacher of Sakura. She knocked on the door of the Saikyo Dojo.

"Hibiki-san?" Sakura asked inside the dojo. No answer. "Hibiki-san?". She decided to enter the Dojo and saw a sleeping bag in the corner of the Dojo. Poking out was what looked like Dan's head. Sakura sighed and kicked the bag lightly to wake him up.

"Huh, nnng…" Dan grunted. "Don't… don't take my stuff." He said rather lazily, waving at air.

"That's how you ward of theifs?" Sakura sighed. "If there was anything of value to steal in this place, I would have taken it myself for fun."

"Shut up… shut up you…" Dan waved his arm around again, still curled up.

"Hibiki-san, get up." Sakura said impatiently.

"What time is it…" Dan asked with a yawn.

"5 PM" Sakura replied. There was silence as Dan stuck his arm back where it was.

"5 more minutes" he replied, nuzzling back to sleep.

"Oh for the love of… Hibiki-san, it's Blanka's birthday!" Sakura told him rather sternly.

"Oh… tell Jimmy I said Hi…" Dan said, yawning. This was followed by a rather hard kick to the sleeping bag. "Yee-ow! What did you do that for!" Dan said, more alert, turning around in his sleeping bag.

"You promised to come out for the birthday meal, remember?" Sakura reminded him.

"Birthday meal? At Jimmy's house? I'm not cooking nothing…"

"No, it's going to be at a proper restaurant."

"A restaurant that accepts green Brazilian beast-men who produce electricity? Next you'll be telling me I'm not undisputed man of cool." Dan laughed before rolling back.

"You best be awake at 7 because I need a ride and I don't have a car of my own" Sakura said, walking away. Dan grunted and rolled back on his side.

"Not even my car, I found it in a ditch…" Dan muttered as he went back to sleep.

Two hours passed and Sakura had ditched her old school uniform for a red and white party dress she had lying around, with matching red converse. She arrived at the Saikyo dojo to the sight of Dan who look like he just stumbled out of bed. Probably because he literally _did_ stumble out of bed, but that's still no excuse to be wearing creased pink training garb. Sakura looked at him and sighed. 'At least he's awake…' Sakura thought to herself.

"Hey, Hibiki-san, ready to go?" Sakura asked, as if she didn't know already. She was still forcing him out though.

"Man am I hungry…" Dan grumbled, sliding across the floor. He straightened out his pink training clothes, put on some sandals and combed his hair. "How do I look?" Dan said, grinning like he always does when trying to look cool. Sakura tried to say something, even putting on a mock grin, but she couldn't say anything without risk of laughing or just sounding unconvincing.

"Just… come on…" Sakura said, gliding out the Dojo. Dan sighed and grabbed a nearby daisy and tucked in his clothes, as if like a corsage. They both entered the white, rusted up car and set off… well… crawled off. Dan's car wasn't the best at setting off in style.

"So, where we headed?" Dan asked his passenger.

"Oh, to the city. A place on Yebda Street." Sakura replied

"What kind of food is it? Hopefully it's the fast kind!" Dan revved himself up.

"No, Hibiki-san, it's going to be proper food with proper service." Sakura sighed; a bit too annoyed for Dan's… well… annoyance.

"What kind of food is it? Chinese? Japanese? Indian? English? American?" Dan ranted on.

"Apparently it's called 'Francisco's'." Sakura told him.

"So it's Italian, right?" Dan asked again.

"Shut up and drive." Sakura groaned. Dan did so (Dan, shutting up, wha…?) and arrived at Francisco's shortly after, they got out the car to a rather negative response from Dan.

"Mexican! What the…" Dan questioned, eying rather Mexican looking decorations such as cacti and a sombrero hanging on a hinge inside.

"I thought you loved Mexican, Hibiki-san." Sakura stated.

"I love Mexicans, not Mexican food. Oh man, those hats they wear are so adorable! And their little mariachi bands, yadadadada-yadadadada-dadadadadadada!" He started to sing, dancing in a circle with imaginary maracas. Sakura just placed her hand on her face in embarrassment and entered the restaurant where Blanka, dressed in a nice looking pair of black pants and a stretched button up shirt, and his mother, wearing a lovely long black dress, were waiting.

"Happy Birthday, Blanka!" Sakura chirped, hugging him. Blanka hugged back, albeit a bit slowly as if he was embarrassed. His mother nodded to Sakura who bowed in front of her smiling happily.

"Oh Sakura, where is Hibiki-san?" Blanka's mother asked Sakura.

"Oh, he's…" she was going to finish her sentence, but when she looked out, Dan was still dancing with his fake Mariachi band. "…just… going to be a second…" Sakura laughed nervously. Dan soon entered and made a rather big deal out of it.

"Yes! It is I! Saikyo master and perhaps one of the hottest men alive, Dan Hibiki! Here to wish his number one fan a Happy Birthday!" he said, before back flipping and pointing to Blanka, grinning. You could almost hear the 'DING' from his grin. Blanka, Blanka's mother and Sakura all facepalmed in unison as they went towards the waiter.

"Yes, party of 4?" Blanka's mother asked the waiter. The waiter looked at Blanka who looked a bit shy, but stood up on two feet to not look like an animal. The waiter simply nodded and led the 4 to a table where they inspected the menus.

"Everything's on me, so don't worry about paying." Blanka's mother smiled warmly.

"Oh please, I'll pay for my meal, you've done enough already!" Sakura smiled back, while Dan on the other hand, relished this chance. He was just going to dine and dash like a cheapskate, which was his plan all along, but now…

"Oooh, I'll have that, and that, with a side of that, and that and that, ooooh, I'll have a large portion of that as well, with extra…" his rant ended with a swift smack of a menu on the back of his head from Sakura. "Alright! Alright! I'll just have the… Quee-sah-dill-ass…" he read slowly. "Ooh, with a side of… Jall-a-pen-o's…"

"I'll just have the salad" Blanka's mother said.

"I'll have a salad as well" Blanka said, following his mother.

"Hmm… what's this… Chilli soup… with chocolate, fish, aojiru, carrots… what a weird soup…"

"Oooh! I change my mind! That sounds great!" Dan chimed in.

"Really? You want this?" Sakura asked Dan.

"Sakura, it's just the law of how things work in the universe, adding one delicious thing to another delicious thing always equals more deliciousness!" Dan chimed, grinning. "Just like I have dazzling white teeth, a rocking ponytail and an awesome singing voice, more awesomeness always equals more awesomeness! Just think of it as adding one thing with another thing always equals more thing-i-tude. It's simple algebra, Sakura, sheesh!"

"…I'll just have the Quesadillas…" Sakura laughed nervously. The waiter came and took their orders and left for the kitchen.

Back in the kitchen, a certain masked man and his friend and co-chef were arguing

"Listen, El Fuerte, I set up this restaurant here because I thought it would make money, I don't want my customers having any of that soup!" A small, brown haired chef was telling the masked man.

"But it's perfectly fine, amigo!" El Fuerte tried to calm him down. "You haven't even tried any of it!"

"I don't really need to try it to know it's… ungodly!" the chef rebelled. "Anyway, why don't you try it yourself and see how awful it is!"

"Oh-ho-ho, senor, this food is for the customer, anyway, a chef does not need to taste his own food for he knows in his heart it is perfection!" El Fuerte said, lifting his spoon in triumph.

"Ok… don't panic, everything will be alright, not like anyone will order that stuff anyway…" the chef said to himself in an attempt to calm himself down.

The waiter with Sakura and co's order came to the kitchen. "Ok, I need 2 salads, a chicken quesadilla and a chilli soup."

"… I need to keep my mouth shut…" the chef grimaced, pulling his hat over his face in aggravation. He went up to the waiter and took the paper he wrote down the order on. Maybe it was a different soup? Nope. Chilli soup. "Who would be dumb enough to try this!" the chef yelled at the paper.

"Someone with good taste, obviously." El Fuerte smirked, scooping up a large helping and pouring it into the bowl. The chef looked the soup drop viscously into the bowl. It was almost symbolic of his business, he thought to himself.

A few minutes later, the order was complete and was brought to the table. Everyone on Sakura's table chowed down… except for Dan who's facial expression was not that of a happy customer.

"What's the matter Dan? Did one delicious thing not get combined with a delicious thing or whatever that weird thing you were telling me was?" Sakura grinned, knowing she had Dan beat.

"N-n-no! It's delicious!" Dan panicked, trying to keep his cool.

"You haven't even tasted any yet. Go on." Sakura's grin went wider as she dropped everything to see Dan eat the soup. Even Blanka's and Blanka's mother looked on, not wanting to miss the show. Dan gulped and grabbed his spoon. He scooped up some of the soup and hovered it near his lips.

"C'mon Dan… you got this…" Dan tried to psych himself up and soon enough he gulped down his soup. Dead silence went over the table.

"Well?" Sakura asked Dan, hoping for a negative reaction.

"Oh my god, this is fantastic! The flavours dance on the tongue! It's a cornucopia of flavour! This is… uh… good!" Dan said rather excitedly. Sakura's grin turned into a raised eyebrow of confusion. At first she thought Dan was acting, then he went for more. And more.

"Here, Dan, let me try…" Sakura said, reaching her own spoon in. She tasted it herself. Dan wasn't lying. It was fantastic.

"Well if it's that good, we must compliment the chef afterwards." Blanka's mother suggested. All but Dan, who was too busy trying to eat the bowl, nodded in agreement. They told the waiter to bring the Chef out and he nodded and went back into the kitchen. There the restaurant heard a rather loud muffle.

"THEY WHAT! THEY LIKED HIS LIQUID ABOMINATION!" the Chef practically screamed.

"They liked it?" El Fuerte said, looking round, almost shocked himself.

"Y-yes sir." The waiter quivered. "T-t-they told me to come and get the chef so that they can thank him personally.

"I spend 10 years at a cooking school… I learnt from the best… he puts together random stuff he collects from guys he beats up and… I hate my life!" the Chef gasped out, almost out of breath. El Fuerte on the other hand laughed triumphantly.

"So, my 'Liquid Abomination' has some fans, eh?" El Fuerte folded his arms jubilantly. "Better go out and see my adoring public!" El Fuerte smiled and went off. Before he exited the kitchen, he pointed at a jar of gravy. "That could use some Coca-Cola. Add a bit more zest."

The waiter guided El Fuerte to the table.

"Here is your chef, the inventor and chef of the Chilli Soup." The waiter presented. Dan burst out laughing.

"Oh my god! He's got one of them Lucha Libre masks on! Talk about commitment to the bit! Do you have your tag team partner do spices? Hah!" Dan chortled. Sakura on the other hand, could see beyond the mask. It was a different mask then she had seen him before, but she could recognize everything else.

"El Fuerte?" Sakura asked.

"Ah! Hello there friend! We meet again! And you bring such wonderful friends! And pinkshirt…" El Fuerte said, eying a laughing Dan who was so busy busting a gut over his own jokes he could not concentrate on who he actually was.

"Blanka, Ma'am, this is El Fuerte, he saved me from some thugs not so long ago.". They both stood up and shook his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you." They both said. El Fuerte returned the handshake. Just then, Dan finished laughing. He looked up and realized…

"Wait… wait a second…" Dan's cogs in his head were just starting to whirr.

"Ah, Pink Shirt! You're awake this time round. Please don't cause a scene, mister."

"Oh god, he's gonna smack me with a chair…" Dan froze still.

"…I haven't… what?" El Fuerte tried to figure out a sentence but was too confused.

"Dan, he's not going to harm you. Just don't panic." Sakura tried to calm Dan down, but he froze still. This was good enough for now.

"So, we just wanted to say thank you. The rest of the meal was delicious but that soup went down a storm!" Blanka's mother said happily.

"Well, it's an old family recipe… which I cooked up 5 minutes ago." El Fuerte joked. There was a hint of truth in that. The rest of the clan laughed (apart from Dan, but that's a given) and hailed for the bill. They paid and Dan was dragged away by Sakura. El Fuerte triumphantly left for his post again at the kitchen where his friend was frantically rushing food, not in attempt to get them out on time but in an attempt to make them better. In the parking lot, Dan was still frozen, but was standing. Sakura sighed.

"You sure you're going to be alright, Sakura?" Blanka asked.

"Yeah, fine, just gonna wait until Dan stops being Dan." Sakura laughed exhaustedly. She waved Blanka and his mother goodbye before looking back at Dan. Still frozen. Sakura sighed and sat on the floor.

"Dan. You're my ride. Wake up."

"Tell me… when he's… not looking…" Dan whispered quietly.

"What do you want me to do? Move you to another country?"

"Just… make sure… he's not looking…" Dan whispered again obviously paranoid. "Go inside… and tell him… not too look."

Sakura sighed, knowing that Dan wasn't going to budge due to him being so scared El Fuerte was going to jump out and put him in a wrestling lock. She went back inside and waited a while until Dan believed she was talking to El Fuerte. Suddenly, she saw El Fuerte move out the kitchen. Sakura had never really thanked him for the time when she was almost taken out by the thugs so she approached him.

"Hey, El Fuerte!" Sakura called out.

"Oh? Want some more soup? I can give it to you free of charge for such a dear friend, y'know." El Fuerte offered.

"No, no. It's not that. I just wanted to say… thank you. For everything. You practically saved my life."

"Oh…" El Fuerte was taken aback at this outburst, Sakura had said it with such emotion that El Fuerte didn't know how to respond. He thought it rude to do it in his typical hyperactive Lucha way, but he did respond.

"Well, it's a pleasure, honestly." El Fuerte replyed. His tone dropped from his typical cheerful Mexican singing to a more amorous low hum.

"Um… I guess that was it…" Sakura felt something pound in her stomach. She could feel some words forcing its way out. "C-can I take you on a date some time?". Sakura shot up in disbelief at what she said. Her hands clasped her mouth. "I-I didn't mean it like that! I meant can I take you out… to thank you! Oh god, what did I just say, I must be su-" El Fuerte interrupted Sakura's ranting with a finger to her lips.

"It'd be my pleasure." El Fuerte replied, giving a rather kindly looking smile, a very pleasant sight from his usual wild grin which would not have set the mood right. "Meet me here after my shift ends tomorrow. You pick the place."

Sakura nodded and then ran off like a shy schoolgirl. She tried to retain composure and tapped Dan on the shoulder. He jumped a foot in the air and poised ready for battle. "I'm ready for you, Lucha Loser! Please don't hurt me…"

"It's me Dan. He's not looking. In fact he just left." Sakura lied.

"Oh did he? Quick, into the Danmobile!" Dan cried, running to his car. Sakura sighed and got in as they sped off.

Sakura's heart was thudding like crazy, this feeling was overwhelming, but all Sakura knew was that she liked it. She also knew that it get more of it, she had to go on that date with El Fuerte and see more of him.


	3. To The Ball

"…and so I said to the Lucha Lame-o, 'Take your Full Nelsons elsewhere, bub, I'll put you in a Full Nels-awesome!'" Dan boasted, striking a fighting pose.

"That's not what Sakura told me." Blanka said simply. Dan's pose melted into a drooped, depressing expression.

"Well, the bit about me hitting him with a chair was true!" Dan tried to salvage his previous story, but Blanka shook his head. "The bit about the leg lock, that was true!" Again, Blanka shook his head. "The getting a phone call from the President to say how great I was and that I can name any state in America 'Hibikitopia'?" Blanka sighed.

"Alright… I believe you… now will you be quiet?" Blanka groaned, in an attempt to quieten the Saikyo master.

"It's true! I declined of course, I said to him 'Now see here, Mr. President, I want 5 states to be named after me and my own statue made of the finest cheese! Not only that, I want the national anthem to be 'Oh, Hibiki, King of Handsomeness!' but he said that would take 'too much time and money'. The cheek!" Dan was about to continue, but he heard a clacking of high heels come into his dojo. His back was turned so he did not see who it was but knew it had to be a woman at the sound of clacking heels on the boards of his dojo, he immediately struck a pose.

"Ahh, a lady enters my dojo…" Dan growled, trying his best to sound alluring. "So, a sweet, innocent lady like you wants to master the Saikyo arts? I'm sure that can be arranged in some… private lessons…" he hissed erotically. Blanka shuffled away in embarrassment into a corner. "Now, what is your name, my lotus flower?"

"Sakura."

"Sakura!" Dan turned around in shock, but saw Sakura in a sparkly, slim fitting dress, showing off her curves. Dan stared at it gormlessly for longer then awkwardness would allow, then finally spurted something out. "I-I-I was just learning lines! For a play! Honest! I didn't mean a thing!"

"A play? Really? What's it called?"

"Uh… Romeo and McBeth in Othell-Danhibikiisawesome-o 2: The Return of the Jedi?" Sakura just sighed.

"Listen, I just came here to say that I'm going out tonight so you won't be able to contact me for the rest of the night, plus I'm getting picked up from here so I might as well wait a while."

"Going out tonight? Where?"

"To a party at that 5-star hotel."

"A 5-star hotel? With who?"

"Uh…" Sakura hesitated. "A friend of mine."

"What's their name? Are they a hot chick?"

"No."

"…you sure it's not a hot chick?"

"Sure, Dan. Sheesh." Sakura groaned, about to leave.

"Well, I'd like to know their name! I wanna look my best and show her my oiled up muscles, don't I?" Dan pressed.

"It's…" Sakura wasn't going to tell the truth as she didn't want Dan kicking off, but realized that she was being picked up from the Dojo by him anyway so he was going to find out one way or another. "…El Fuerte."

"El who? El Firey? El Foofoo? El Dorado? Elwood and Jake? El M-N-O-P?" Dan slumped to the ground, trying to pronounce the name.

"El Fuerte, you've met him before… twice!" Sakura was interrupted by a honking of a horn. She went to leave as Dan clumsily got up and followed her to the door where he saw an all too familiar masked man in an open topped car wave at his date happily.

"That lucha guy!" Dan pointed in fear. "…and he has a _convertable_!"

El Fuerte waved to Sakura as she skipped to his red convertible car, roof down. He could be seen wearing a golden mask, ponytail sticking out. The rest of his body was in a rather smart tuxedo. Sakura entered the car and they both sped off. In the car, Sakura was excited as she had never been in such an expensive car before.

"Wow! How did you afford this?" Sakura asked.

"Simple, my friend, a few years ago I won the World Heavyweight Championship back in Mexico. With the prize money and the spare money I had saved up from being a part-time chef, it helped me purchase El Hermoso here."

"El Hermoso?"

"Yes, it's Spanish for 'The Beautiful'" El Fuerte enlightened Sakura, who nodded in approval.

"Sounds so strong, but gentle…"

"A bit like me!" El Furete let out a hearty laugh as Sakura herself let out a giggle, but blushed as her description did fit El Fuerte a bit too well in her mind.

Meanwhile, back at the Saikyo dojo, Dan lay on his stomach on the floor, Blanka looking on to make sure his friend was okay.

"Um… are you…"

"I'm excellent, thanks for asking, just fine. In a world where a hot schoolgirl will go out with homicidal masked men; but yet no women, at this moment in time anyway, are crawling all over me trying to get me to have their babies with them? It's just not fair! There is no god! There is no god, Jimmy!"

"Well, why not just have some soup or a drink or something. That normally cheers you up. Or we can watch a movie or something…" Blanka tried to reason with Dan, but he stood up and sighed.

"Let's just go… have a… bacon…" he slunked off. Blanka knucklecrawled behind him.

Sakura and El Fuerte made it to the hotel, where quite a lot of papperazi were queuing up at the entrance, taking shots of other masked men as they entered the building.

"Whoa! What is this? Did you take me to a movie premier or something?" Sakura asked, a bit befuddled at the hustle and bustle of the crowd of photographers.

"Well, it's just a party with a few of my other Lucha friends." El Fuerte explained, "In Mexico, they are as famous as your movie stars or musicians. They are the most loved, or hated, celebrities in the land!" El Fuerte boomed. He lined up his car with the red carpet lay before him and leapt out without even opening the door on his side. For Sakura, however, he let out a gentlemanly hand as he opened the door, allowing her to exit ladylike out of the car. She grinned as she adored the attention she got, the photographers seemingly on unlimited film as El Fuerte posed and waved behind her. She didn't even mind that all she could hear was, to her, an unidentifiable language, she was just happy for friendly faces to wave and smile back at her as she did to them. After El Fuerte was done posing, he went back to Sakura's side and walked into the ball with her, both of them on a high.


	4. Dan's Plan

"I can't take it, Jimmy!" Dan boomed as he flipped over an empty bowl of soup. "Sakura is having the time of her life being wined and dined by that masked moron. And he totally ripped off my style!" He yelled, yanking his ponytail, "I'm the powerhouse with the ponytail, everyone and their grandma knows that!"

"Quite a lot of people have ponytails." Blanka replied, "Doesn't mean they all stole the style off of you. In fact…"

"It's the principle, Jimmy. Anyone can sport a ponytail, but I'm the only one who should be using it to pick up chicks!"

"Maybe you could get it cut off and…"

"Cut off little Dan!" Dan's voice raised the highest it's been since hitting puberty, "You're mad, Jimmy, mad!"

"Calm down, calm down. Maybe all you need to do is be kind to a woman. Show her she means…"

"Kind guys finish last, Jimbo, real men get the girl or die trying!" Dan ran to a wardrobe and started rummaging through it.

"Uh… Dan… what are you doing…"

"I'm gonna get suited up, I'm going to go into that party and I'm going to show everyone that chicks dig Dan, and not some… flying bean."

"Don't you mean jumping be-…"

"I mean flying! Why would he be a jumping bean? He doesn't jump everywhere. That's stupid, Jimmy." Dan pulled out a bowtie and wrapped it around his neck. "How do I look?"

"Stupid?"

"Don't let your jealously fool you, Jimmy, how do I look?"

"No, seriously. You look like pink stupid."

"Well, you're green, so your opinion doesn't matter. Off to the hotel!" he yelled, striding to his car. Blanka sighed painfully and followed him off.

Meanwhile, back at the ball, Sakura stuck to El Fuerte like glue as they both strolled around, talking to old friends of El Fuerte.

"Who's that?" Sakura pointed to a man, who looked like he just draped a black bag over his head, but it was, of course, just another mask.

"That's Unknown."

"You don't know?"

"That's his name. He's never spoken out loud, he's never been defeated, he's a man wrapped in a tortilla of mystery.". Sakura just giggled at the joke, even though it may have seemed out of place, El Fuerte wanted Sakura to have a good time. She seemed happy enough, pointing out certain masked men in curiosity and El Fuerte knew what he was talking about. Sakura was happy to have someone to talk to as well as learning an entirely new culture. They found themselves on the ballroom balcony on the 2nd tier, it all seemed to regal, like Sakura had been transported into a fairy tale.

"How come I've never really heard of Lucha Libre? It seems like all these guys make a good living. And that reception we got when we entered… it seemed so…"

"It's never really caught on overseas I guess. I think that's what really made me get into my passion of cooking. Moving to a different place and being able to make so much interesting and delicious stuff."

"But we have wrestling over here, just not Lucha Libre."

"Pah, it's not the same thing. Lucha Libre has a passion to it, unlike the artificial 'Look at me, I'm a big muscle guy who's going to beat you up for making fun of my girlfriend'" El Fuerte put on a mock American accent and Sakura couldn't help but laugh once more, grinning all the way through.

"Well, you'd fight for me, wouldn't you?" Sakura stared into the eyes of the masked marvel.

"For your honour or for your heart?" he grinned to himself.

"My honour most definitely." She replied.

"Not a violence lover? That's perfectly fine, just as long as you…"

"It's not that. I love Lucha Libre now, it's just…" there was an awkward pause and Sakura blushed, turning her head away.

"What is it?"

"Well…" she turned to El Fuerte once again. "You can't fight for my heart because… you may already have my hear…"

"Unhand her you beast!" screamed a voice from down on the street.

"Hibiki-san!" Sakura's eyes darted around, her radiant face now turned into a scarlet red of anger. "What the hell are you doing!"

"Don't worry, Sakura, I'll save you!" Dan exclaimed, and like a mock superhero dashed into the ball.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, I tried to stop him…" said a trailing and almost out of breath Blanka who managed to just reach outside the hotel.

"It's not your fault Blanka… oh my god, I'm so sorry, El Fuerte… please… excuse me!" she flustered her way and clacked her heels in record time to get to Dan, who was making his way through the 1st tier of the ballroom.

"I'll save you Saku…" Dan paused in the middle of his chase, "Holy… free shrimp!" he squealed as he rushed to the complimentary snacks table, and sure enough, his mind was completely off saving Sakura and was all about getting his chow on. His love for shrimp was put on hold as a scowling and fuming Sakura clacked her way down the stairs and her fingers clasped the ear of Dan.

"What do you think you are doing? Are you psycho?"

"W-what? I'm not psycho, I'm Saikyo!" Sakura pulled on Dan's ear. "Ouch! Okay I'm sorry! But that El Fuerte guy was going to hurt you, he was making a move on you!"

"I was making a move on him!" Sakura whispered violently to Dan, "I wanted him to. You ruined the most romantic moment I'll ever have, now go away!" she let go of Dan's ear and huffed back upstairs, almost tearful in her tirade.

"Jeez! What's her problem? Ah well, more shrimp for me!" Dan squealed as he continued his devouration* of the shrimp plate. Unbeknownst to him, a looming shadow eclipsed the table in front. "Hey, guy behind me, move a bit!" Dan said, face full of shrimp, "You're blocking some valuable shrimp light here!"

"So, little man wants to get free food, eh?" said the figure. Dan's eyes shot open, the deep growling voice let out a harsh bellow as he turned around to face him.

"Wh… what do you want…?"

"I want little hungry man to get out of ballroom!" the growling man said, "Or you will face the mighty power of the Red Cyclone!"

"Oh yeah? Well, for your information, I'm about to soil myself. So there." Dan said, then, he resumed to cower for his life.

On the balcony, El Fuerte waited for Sakura to arrive, and she did, elbows resting on the balcony ledge and hands cupping her face. "I'm sorry, El Fuerte. I'm so sorry…"

"It is okay, Sakura. It is okay."

"Why didn't you come beat him up for me? It'd at least get the message through to his thick skull."

"Like I said, I only fight for the passion of Lucha, or for your honour. And it was honourable to take that situation into your own hands."

"Wow… that's really sweet!" Sakura lifted her head out of her hands and smiled once again, if not a bit rugged looking from the rant before. "Trust me, he's not normally like that… he's always been a bit quirky but…"

"I understand, he's a jealous ex, right?"

"Ex? Ew! No! He's just an all round good egg, he doesn't mean any harm. He's just… really… really… _really _stupid. And now I feel stupid." She said, sighing.

"I apologize if my reactions are a bit off… I hope you can get over this…"

"Only one thing can get me over this, Mr. Fuerte." She said, a mad grin starting to grow on her face. "And that's this!" she grabbed 'Mr. Fuerte' by the collar and drug him in for a kiss, planting it passionately and roughly on his lips and it lasted for what felt like a good few seconds. "I wasn't leaving without that." El Fuerte was speechless and Sakura giggled to herself as she brushed her fraying hairs back. "I need to go fix myself. I think Hibiki-san may have messed up my look." She said, waving to El Fuerte with one hand as she went off to the ladies room.

"Dan? Dan?" Blanka cried out. "Where are ya?"

"Nnngh… shrimp… too… much… shrimp…" said a dustbin.

"Dan? Is that you?" Blanka opened up the dustbin to find him lying there, dazed.

"Oh… oh man… at first, I was eating shrimp… then… a Russian guy threw me in here…"

"Did… did you eat thrown away shrimp?" Blanka said, staring at an empty plate in Dan's hand.

"…Somebodies gotta eat it…!"

_* - Devouration – The Munchman dictionary defines this as "The act of devouring an ungodly quantity of food at a rapid pace." Or "The result of devouring an ungodly quantity of food at a rapid pace."_


	5. New Moves

_BZZ__ZT. BZZZT. BZZZT. BZZZT._

Sakura slammed the alarm by her bedside and rolled out of bed. It was a Saturday which meant an early rise for training. Unluckily for her, it was raining once again. Luckily for her, she was better prepared, whipping out an umbrella and heading towards the Saikyo Dojo. She had no interest in the Saikyo arts as of such, but when it was raining it was a perfect solitary place to practice. Besides, she'd rather break Dan's stuff than her own in her own place. She picked up her bag and umbrella and headed out.

Inside the dojo, no one was there. Not even Dan. It was a Saturday and he only really visited his dojo to keep up appearances as no one came. She rested her bag on the floor and began sparring the air. Kicks and punches flew as the graceful movements help warm her up and no real problems arose. That was until she started using her sparring buddy. Sakura only liked to practice with two or three people so whenever those people weren't around, she had a life-like doll that she could abuse to her hearts content. On a good day, she could juggle it in the air with the greatest of ease, arching kicks and backflips, delivering powerful blows to the helpless object and creating a fantastic fighting show. Sadly, today was not one of those days. First kick she tried to place square in the chest. She missed wildly and ended up clipping the dummy, causing it to pirouette in place before flopping onto the ground. Take two, she flung it in the air to make sure she could get it just right. Instead, she kicked thin air and she hit the ground harder than the dummy did as she lost balance and landed flat on her back. Third try she gave a rough, haphazard kick to the mid-section and she ended up cracking her shin on the dummy. With only so much give, Sakura ended up clasping it in pain before sitting on the ground, already defeated. It had barely been five minutes and she was already spent. She rustled in her bag for something to help calm her nerves, only to find some tapes fall straight out and litter the floor.

"Damnit!" she thought to herself. "I must have still had these in here..." Sakura rented a few Lucha Libre tapes out of pure interest in her new friends lifestyle. She was always interested in fighting and a few of them even had El Fuerte himself star. In a flash of curiosity, she looked at the fighting doll. Maybe something from the tapes could help her. She searched around for Dan's VCR which he used to teach whenever he couldn't be fussed (which came up more than expected) and shoved in one of the tapes. Two wrestlers entered the ring to lights and music as she studied the tape. She tried to find something to use when, suddenly, leaping out the air, a Lucha in red flung himself over a blue Lucha, grasping his neck with his legs and spinning around, flinging his opponent to one side of the ring. Sakura shot up and tried to attempt it with her dummy. A normal person wouldn't think of trying it based off of a tape, but Sakura had a unique will and desire, also she was quite skilled a fighter so she thought she had the resistance to shake it off. She stood the dummy up and paced back. She sized up her target and rushed towards it, flinging herself, locking her legs around the dummy, spinning herself gracefully and flinging it away. Sakura landed, albeit clumsily, on her feet before giggling and jumping in excitement with a repetitive chorus of "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!". Over and over again, she successfully flung herself with various moves ripped from the tape. She made quite an apt wrestler of herself and all within three hours of training. The dummy certainly had its work cut out for it. She took the tape out and placed everything back in her bags before a familiar voice startled her.

"What the heck are you doing here!?" Dan yelped in surprise. "It's my place and I don't even come here!"

"I was just sparring... it was raining so I couldn't do it outside." Sakura explained.

"Sparring? And you didn't call me?" Dan seemed slightly offended. "Is it because I beat you?" he groaned cockily.

"That ONE time Dan..." Sakura was having an off day then, Dan had placed a lucky Gadoken and knocked Sakura off her feet. Since then he had been claiming a superiority over her fighting-wise. The worst part of it was, they weren't even having a real fight.

"Okay, let's fight, if I win, you call me the King of All Fighters, and you have to cook for me for a week!"

"And if I win?" Sakura sighed, already planning on saying no, but thought she'd take a chance.

"I... I'll shut up about... beating you..." Dan actually sounded in pain when making the wager.

"And...?" Sakura tried to coax more.

"And... I guess I can call you Queen..."

"Queen, eh?" Sakura hadn't fully forgiven Dan for his antics at the ball, so this was a perfect time to knock him off his pedestal. "You're on."

"Aw yeah!" Dan grinned, striking a fighting pose. "King of All Fighters, going to clean house! As per usual..." Sakura grunted, striking a fighting pose, heart not fully into it. "Ready... go!"

Sakura struck with her usual starting move, a high kick. Dan ducked underneath clumsily before hitting back with an open palmed punch. Sakura went for a kick that was sure to hit Dan in the middle, but she missed, giving Dan a perfect chance to sweep her off her standing foot and on the floor. Sakura hit the floor and Dan, thinking he was a composed master of fighting, had a look on his face that was like he had won the lottery. "Ready to give up?". This goaded Sakura on to give him a punch, since if kicks weren't working, surely punches would. Sloppily placed, it gave Dan another opportunity to grasp her arm and, ungracefully, yank Sakura over his shoulder onto her back. Sakura got angry, furious she couldn't connect one single fighting move. That and what had happened between her and Dan as of late, it made her re-think her strategy whilst trying to calm down. She got up and took a few paces back. Dan made a confused glare but, fighting stance at the ready, he was ready to continue his good form. Dan made the first move this time, attempted a swift punch to Sakura's head. This lead to her leaping up in the air. Almost instinctively, she locked her ankles around his head and flung him across the room. He tumbled on the floor and she landed perfectly, legs splayed. "What the hell what that!?" Dan shrieked as this time he ran at her. She dropped down and locked her foot with his, causing him to fall flat on his face. Whilst he was down, she frantically moved towards the ankle and started twisting inwards. Her opponent shrieked in pain and started clawing at the ground. "Yeeeow! Okay! Okay! I give! I give! Get off of me!"

"I win!" Sakura cheekily squeaked, dropping her opponents ankle.

"Where the hell did you learn to fight like that!?" her fallen comrade said, clutching his ankle in pain.

"I dunno..." Sakura knew perfectly, but like a well kept secret, she refused to tell Dan. Especially since whenever wrestling is invovled, Dan has a short fuse. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Oh... I was going to give you something..." Dan sighed, limping over to a desk. He handed Sakura a card with a crudely drawn picture of him and Sakura holding hands. There were rainbows and hearts all around it and "I'M SORRY" in big bubble letters.

"Aww... did Blanka draw this for ya?" Sakura couldn't contain her grin.

"Yeah... of course! Heh... Jimmy drew it... it was my idea... but Jimmy _totally _drew it..." Dan stumbled. Sakura gave Dan a warm hug which Dan attempted to return on his bad ankle.

"Thanks... y'know I was really reconsidering even talking to you today."

"Does this get me off the whole calling you "Queen" thing...?" Dan asked feebly.

"Sure, I guess." Sakura let out a sigh and giggled. "I gotta go, see ya!"

Sakura made her way out back to her place in what was now a sunny day. She checked her answering machine.

"_You have... TWO... new messages..."_

"_Message one."_

On came a cheery and more than welcome voice which Sakura couldn't help but squeal to.

"_Hey, chilli pepper! It's El Fuerte! Remember me? Of course you do... if you're not busy, tonight is a grand opening of a new restaurant. They do ANTARCTICAN food! What do they serve? Ice? Penguin? Well, if you're interested, ring me back! Much love!"_

Sakura's heart went a flutter. She couldn't wait to ring him back. That was, of course before the second message...

"_Hey kiddo, it's Ryu. I'm back in town for a few days. If you wanna catch up, come hit me up. See ya."_


End file.
